Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Coal Fired Power Stations

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the reuse of the sites of former coal-fired power stations; and whether any such plans include using those sites for (1) alternative energy production, (2) industrial and employment uses, and (3) housing, in particular social housing.

lord henley: The Government has a clear policy to close all unabated coal power generation by 2025. Decisions on the reuse of the sites of former coal-fired power stations will be for the commercial owners or operators.

Civil Engineering

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the civil engineering sector in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

lord henley: The Government’s long-term commitment to drive productivity in the construction industry includes support for civil engineering through the UK’s National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, which is worth over £400bn of planned public and private investment in nearly 700 projects, programmes and other investments. This includes around £190bn to be invested by 2020/21. It is estimated the next decade will see over £600bn of public and private investments in infrastructure. The National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) has also been increased to £37bn and has been extended by another year until 2023-24. The NPIF is the cornerstone of the Government’s plan to boost growth in areas critical to productivity. The investments we are making from the Construction Sector Deal to transform the sector’s productivity includes our commitment to invest £170m, matched by £250m from industry in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) in the Transforming Construction: Manufacturing Better Buildings programme. The programme will improve productivity through promoting the development and commercialisation of digital, manufacturing, energy generation and storage technologies for the construction and built environment sectors. The Transforming Construction programme will also promote a range of R&D and demonstration projects through cross sector collaboration; and £72m will be invested in the Transforming Construction Alliance – a consortium of the Centre for Digital Built Britain, the Manufacturing Technology Centre and the Building Research Establishment to support collaboration. The sector deal will aim to create a new business model, driven by investment, and embedded throughout the UK.

Energy: Disconnections

lord stevenson of balmacara: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Henley on 26 June (HL16573), why they do not hold data on the number of households who disconnect their energy supply due to the cost; and what assessment they have made of the impact of the lack of such data on their fuel poverty policy.

lord henley: Government has given Ofgem, the independent GB energy regulator, a statutory duty to protect the interests of vulnerable consumers, with the regulator enforcing rules to protect consumers at risk of debt and disconnection. Following a call for evidence, Ofgem is undertaking a review of households who disconnect their energy supplies due to cost and has requested that energy companies provide additional information and data to help their analysis. They will publish their response this summer. Government will consider the findings of this review and the potential impact more detailed information about self disconnection could have on how we target fuel poverty policies, such as the Warm Home Discount and ECO Local Authority Flexible Eligibility.

Energy: Disconnections

lord stevenson of balmacara: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 26 June (HL16573), what sources of data on the number of households who disconnect their energy supplies due to cost they use to inform their policy-making.

lord henley: The energy regulator Ofgem, monitors and publishes data on households who disconnect their energy supplies due to cost, which includes data from their annual Consumer Engagement Survey and from the Citizens Advice self disconnection consumer survey. Following a call for evidence, Ofgem is undertaking a review of households who disconnect their energy supplies due to cost and has requested that energy companies provide additional information and data to help their analysis. They will publish their response this summer.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Ark Group DMCC: Finance

baroness cox: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they paid £19 million to the ARK Group DMCC based in Dubai; and if so, why.

baroness goldie: ARK Group have delivered UK-funded programmes across the Middle East through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) and the Global Britain Fund (now International Programme Fund). We have not been able to identify the specific payment of £19m based on the information provided. However, since 2016-17 ARK have worked on over 20 projects for the FCO and received c.£25m of funding for these projects.ARK's work for the FCO includes projects aimed at improving security stabilisation and communications in Lebanon; improving Security Sector Reform in Jordan; tackling sexual and gender-based violence in Syria; providing support to Syrian voices and civil society; and improving Community Resilience and Peacebuilding in Yemen.

Department for International Development

International Planned Parenthood Federation: Finance

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what contribution they made to (1) the core, and (2) non-core, fundingof the International Planned Parenthood Federation in (1) 2016–17, (2) 2017–18, and (3) 2018–19; and what further funding they intend to provide to that Federation.

baroness sugg: In 2016 DFID contributed £6.45m of net ODA to the International Planned Parenthood Federation and no further funds in 2017. No non-core funding was provided in either period. Comparable figures beyond December 2017 are not yet available.

Ministry of Defence

Army Reserve: Recruitment

lord browne of belmont: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many soldiers were recruited to the Army Reserve between January 2018 and May 2019.

earl howe: Intake for the Army Future Reserve 2020 between 1 January 2018 and 31 March 2019 was 4,310. This figure includes Officers and Soldiers. Further information can be found on gov.uk at the link below:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2019

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Hunting

lord selkirk of douglas: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the practice of "canned hunting".

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government is aware of the practice of so called “canned hunting”. It is considering this issue carefully and will be informed by evidence it continues to gather.

Agriculture: Seasonal Workers

lord patten: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the assistance that seasonal farm workers from the Ukraine could provide in meeting the UK’s agricultural requirements; and what barriers, if any, there are to their entry.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government has introduced a new immigration pilot scheme for 2019 and 2020 enabling up to 2,500 non-European Economic Area migrant workers, including seasonal workers from Ukraine, to come to the UK to undertake seasonal employment in the edible horticultural sector. This pilot will test the effectiveness of our immigration system at alleviating seasonal labour shortages during peak production periods, whilst reducing immigration to sustainable levels and continuing to welcome those who make an invaluable contribution. This pilot is not designed to meet the full labour needs of the horticultural sector. Rather we are seeking to evaluate the immigration pilot’s ability to assist in alleviating labour shortages during peak production periods. Defra and the Home Office will work closely to monitor the pilot, and review its performance against the stated objectives. This pilot will help inform our understanding of how such immigration routes perform in a modern global context, and support the design of our new immigration system laid out in the recent White Paper. Defra is working to improve the official evidence based on temporary worker supply and demand, through a new quarterly survey of growers, the results of which we will consider carefully. We are also working closely with industry to understand trends in labour demand and supply. Immigration issues are reserved and remain the policy responsibility of the Home Office. After we leave the EU, we must ensure that we have an immigration system that works in the best interest of the whole of the UK. Defra is working closely with the Home Office to ensure that there is a long term strategy for agricultural labour as part of the future immigration strategy. The Home Office has launched a 12-month engagement programme with sectors across the UK to enable businesses and other stakeholders to shape the development of the future skills based immigration system. As such, there are no plans to expand this pilot at this time. We wish to fully assess this pilot and the results will help to inform the design of the new immigration system from January 2021.

Home Office

Lead: Theft

lord alderdice: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many churches in England have had thefts of lead in each of the last five years.

lord alderdice: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the value of the lead stolen from churches in England in each of the last five years.

lord alderdice: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the methods of disposal of stolen lead; and of whether such disposal took place in (1) the UK, or (2) elsewhere in Europe.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government recognises the distress and disruption that metal theft can cause, not only to businesses but also local communities of which churches are an important part.The Home Office collects information from police forces on the number of metal theft incidents. These data are published annually by the Office for National Statistics and can be found in the ‘Property Crime tables’ here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables.The data show whether or not the theft was infrastructure or non-infrastructure related. Data are available for the year ending March 2013 to March 2018, however they are not broken down to show how many incidents were related to theft of lead from church roofs or the method or country of disposal for the metal stolen.



Property Crime Tables 2017-18
(Excel SpreadSheet, 286 KB)

Passports

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are now issuing British passports without the words "European Union" on the front cover; and if so, why.

baroness williams of trafford: Passport design changes are determined months in advance to ensure that there are sufficient stocks to deliver passport services to nearly seven million British travellers each year.The issuing of passports to British citizens that no longer include the words European Union was therefore long planned to coincide with the earliest possible date that the UK would leave the EU, and introduced on 30 March 2019.There is no difference for British citizens whether their passport does or does not reference the EU. Both are equally valid for travel.

Asylum: Community Relations

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to encourage the integration of asylum seekers into communities.

baroness williams of trafford: This Government’s priority is to focus our efforts and resources to support those who most need it, rather than invest in integration for those who may not qualify for international protection. Currently, around half of those who seek asylum in the UK are found not to need international protection. This is why support towards integration is offered at the point where someone has been recognised as a refugee.The Government published the cross-government Integrated Communities Action plan in February 2019. In the action plan we have committed to ensuring all refugees are supported and empowered to integrate and rebuild their lives in the UK, focusing on improving support for English language, employment, mental health, and orientation to life in the UK.

Immigration

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many outstanding leave to remain cases are awaiting decision by the Home Office.

baroness williams of trafford: Information on the number of Leave to Remain applications currently awaiting decision is not available in published statistics.However, the number of in-country applications in progress is published as part of quarterly transparency data. The latest figures are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-country-migration-data-may-2019, which also shows the percentage of straightforward applications considered within service standard.



UKVI - In Country Migration Data - May 2019 
(Excel SpreadSheet, 129.91 KB)

Migrant Workers

lord rogan: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to engage with businesses, employers and other stakeholders before making a final decision on future salary thresholds for skilled workers from outside the UK; and whether that timescale will be shortened in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

baroness williams of trafford: Following the publication of the Government’s White Paper ‘The UK’s future skills-based immigration system’ (Cm9722) on 19 December 2018, Ministers and officials are undertaking an extensive year long engagement programme with a wide range of stakeholders across the UK, including with the private, public and voluntary sector and local government, as well as industry representatives and individual businesses. We have already delivered over 100 events in every nation of the UK, reaching almost 1500 stakeholders.As part of our engagement, on 24 June 2019, the Government asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to consider the issue of minimum salary thresholds in more detail. As part of this new commission, we have asked the MAC to look at a number of issues including the approach to calculating salary thresholds, the levels at which they should be set, the case for greater regional variation and the impact of exemptions from minimum salary thresholds. This report is due by January 2020.We have been very clear that no decision on the levels at which salary thresholds should be set will be taken until we have completed the UK-wide engagement process that is currently underway.

Treasury

Employment

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of leaving the EU on 31 October on employment levels.

lord young of cookham: In November 2018 the Government published a detailed set of economic analyses on the long-term impacts of EU exit on the UK economy, its sectors, nations and regions and the public finances.  This government has a strong track record of delivering and protecting jobs. There are 3.7 million more people in work compared to 2010, and the proportion of low paid jobs is at its lowest level for at least 20 years.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Betting

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks byLord Ashton of Hyde on 2 July (HL Deb, col 1346), on what evidence they based their claim that the Bet Regret campaign is showing promising results.

lord ashton of hyde: We published the Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures in May last year. A safer gambling advertising campaign was one of a range of measures to strengthen protections around gambling advertising and more widely, to ensure that the sector is socially responsible and doing all it can to protect consumers. The campaign was launched in February and the initial message, ‘Bet Regret’, is aimed at reducing risky or impulsive betting on sports, particularly by young men. Campaign activity has been closely monitored and a tracking study conducted at the end of the first burst of TV advertising suggests that the campaign is well-targeted and is effectively reaching the intended audience. The attached summary is published on GambleAware’s website here: https://about.gambleaware.org/media/1966/safer-gambling-campaign-update-june-2019.pdf 



Safer Gambling Update
(PDF Document, 3.22 MB)